1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to continuous hot rolling mills of the type designed to produce long products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional rolling mills designed to produce long products typically comprise an initial mill section including a furnace for reheating billets, followed by roughing and intermediate mill stands which roll the thus heated billets into intermediate products having reduced cross-sectional areas. Differently configured outlet mill sections are then employed, selectively and individually, to additionally roll the intermediate products into finished products that are processed into packages according to customer requirements.
The initial mill section has an elevated “first” production rate that in most cases exceeds lower “second” production rates of the individual outlet mill sections. Thus, for the majority of the mill's finished products, the higher first production rate of the initial mill section cannot be realized because the entire mill must be slowed to match the lower second production rate of the outlet mill sections currently in use. The resulting reduced production rate, when coupled with the capital investment in the outlet mill sections that are not currently in use (referred to as “dead money”), amounts to a significant loss to the mill operator.
The objective of the present invention is to provide a means for simultaneously operating multiple different mill outlet sections at a combined production rate that exceeds the second production rates of the individual outlets, and that ideally equals and thus takes maximum advantage of the elevated first production rate of the initial mill section.